The Feeling are: Dan Gillespie Sells – vocals & guitarRichard Jones – bassKevin Jeremiah – guitarCiaran Jeremiah – keyboardsPaul Stewart – drums The Feeling are five twentysomethings from Sussex and London who love pop music. Great big no-nonsense, hook-filled, giant-chorused pop music – music for the masses, only intelligent, with sunshine hooks and killer choruses that everyone can hum, from plumbers to professors.Singer Dan Gillespie Sells, who admits to having had an indie phase once, says: "There are no guilty pleasures anymore. You're allowed to like Andrew Gold, ELO, Supertramp or 10cc. It's really liberating." The Feeling are pop and proud. They're reclaiming the term. Like The Raspberries or, more recently, Jellyfish or The New Radicals, The Feeling are premier exponents of prog pop meets nouveau soft-rock.  THE MUSIC "You can get away with murder in pop music," says Dan. "We like getting away with murder.  We like great big choruses with great big hooks." This perfect blend comes together on their debut album Twelve Stops And Home. It is a 12-track affair "with no fillers, all stonkers - a classic album." It will also, explains Richard, be "lush and epic," while at the same time being, in Dan's words, "stripped-down." The singer cites early Elton John records, The Beatles' swansong and The Carpenters as examples of the feel they are after. "They were epic but not lavishly orchestrated," says Dan. 'Rocket Man' is just bass, guitar, piano and drums, but it's vocally driven with not much else going on. ‘Let It Be’ was still powerful without the orchestration. It still had epic-ness; a melodic strength to it. Or 'Solitaire' by The Carpenters:  that's a great example of a song that's epic but stripped down. The Carpenters were a big influence on me."  THE HISTORY The Feeling, who are all between 25 and 27, are overnight sensations with a bit of a past, cutting their teeth as session musicians on a variety of mainstream and marginal recordings. They're all from Sussex, except Dan, who's from London. Paul, Kevin and Ciaran even went to the same school: Paul and Ciaran were in the same year. The Sussex axis of the band have been friends for 13 years. They met Dan and Richard at music college in Croydon 10 years ago, and they've been working together in various forms ever since. THE PLAYERSThe Feeling are, let's not be coy, superb musicians who have spent years honing their craft. That's not to imply that virtuoso expertise and dexterous professionalism in rock'n'roll are a necessity. But it certainly helps if you can play your instruments. And these cats can play. But who inspired them, as individuals? Paul?"Loads of people!  Mick Fleetwood, Bernard Purdie, Roger Taylor and Ringo are all big influences. There seems to be a misconception that Ringo was crap, but some of his parts were genius," says the drummer. "I’d love to contribute as much to our sound as he did to The Beatles." Dan?“Karen Carpenter was one of the greatest vocal technicians ever. She had a clean, pure voice, only filled with oodles of emotion. It was heartbreaking. But it doesn't have to be flourish-y or over-elaborate. I'd choose Freddie Mercury for his stage presence, and Neil Young for his guitar-playing. I'd like to be Karen Carpenter in Neil Young's body.  With Freddie Mercury's trousers." Richard? “I like to get involved with the whole arrangement and see how I can complement it with my part. Bassists like Paul McCartney or John Deacon were great in this way. For technicality, I'd pick Jaco Pastorius [jazz-rock fusion supremo]  or James Jamerson [Motown]“   Kevin?"Slash and Brian May - Slash for the sheer attitude of his playing, and Brian May for the fact that his solos are always an indispensable part of every Queen song." Ciaran?"Maybe Joe Zawinul," says the quiet but deadly keyboardist, and you've got to admire a band that reference groups like Earth Wind & Fire and WeatherReport. "But my favourites would be Garth Hudson of The Band and Tom Waits."